Stories are fun — regardless of how they come to us. Some of my best memories are around stories: My dad reading to my siblings and me, listening to story hour on the radio, playing records of dramatized fairy-tales until we had them all memorized. And then I learned how to read - books became my favorite Christmas and birthday presents. For a while there, my parents tried to keep up but quickly realized that my thirst for reading required deeper pockets.

Enter the public library. At first it just served as an endless source of books, but then, even more importantly, the public library became a gateway to choosing my own reading and thus discover an entire universe of books (and ebooks, and audiobooks etc. etc.).

I have moved around the country and around the world several times, and the one constant has always been the trip to get my library card and dive into yet another treasure house of stories and knowledge. I believe that the public library contributes as much or more to the quality of life in a city or county, such as Albuquerque/Bernalillo County, as sports arenas, music venues, and retail opportunities. That’s because the public library does not require an admission fee, but just a simple library card to unlock tremendous entertainment and education resources. I have been a public library user for many years, but I am still making discoveries when I visit my public library website.

With my Albuqerque/Bernalillo public library card, I feel like I am part of a community, and as a citizen of this community I want to make sure it remains strong and healthy. How can we do that? By joining, by participating, and by giving of my own resources to ensure that everyone can get as much pleasure and benefit from our public library as I have done for very many years. When I give, I am only giving back!

I started my library career working at Albuquerque Main Library, Children’s room. At that time, the Main library was filled with hundreds of children from the local elementary schools. We had a captured audience that was eager for things to keep them busy until parents picked them up. Our budget to occupy the children was rather small, mostly craft supplies. It was during this part of my career I began to understand the importance of engaging with children and parents to support their efforts in reading and early literacy. Having resources to enrich programs that spark interest in children and families is a valuable tool for the success of the library.

I ended my library career at the Albuquerque Public Library as an Assistant Director overseeing 19 branches. The staff at the Library are incredibly creative people who are always developing new and exciting programs to reach a variety of audiences. There is nothing more frustrating for staff than to spend time and money developing a program only to have no one attend because of the lack of publicity. The Library Program Guide the Foundation advertises all of the vast array of programing the staff are doing throughout the branches. These programs bring families into the library, exposing children to books which in turn supports their educational growth. The donor funding from our community makes this and so much more possible.

I give to the Foundation to support the wide variety of programs they subsidize in the library. I give so that children can get books into their homes to help attain reading skills needed in our community. I give so that the staff are supported in providing a variety of programs. I give so the children visiting the libraries have early literacy toys to play with. I give so the Albuquerque Public Library is supported in a variety of ways that would not be possible without the Albuquerque Public Library Foundation.